Shares advanced for the fourth day in a row on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, but negative market breadth accompanied by declining liquidity has shown an unstable market uptrend.

The VN-Index added another 0.4 per cent to close Wednesday at 1,200.84 points, lifting the four-day growth to nearly 1.3 per cent.

However, the number of losing stocks was slightly higher than the gaining ones by 246-213, while 85 closed flat.

The trading value declined below VNĐ20 trillion for the first time this week when only 912 million shares worth nearly VNĐ18 trillion (US$759.5 million) were exchanged, down 9 per cent in volume and 12 per cent in value compared to the previous session.

Vietcombank (VCB) again topped the shares lifting the VN-Index most with a gain of 1.9 per cent. However, the sectors which posted the biggest gains were other financial services, IT, food-beverage, construction and electrical equipment with average growth of between 1 per cent and 2 per cent each.

Many shares in the top 10 contributors to the VN-Index were from these above sectors, including brewer Sabeco (SAB), Vinamilk (VNM), FPT Corp (FPT), Vinhomes (VHM), Novaland Group (NVL), and Refrigeration Electrical Engineering (REE).

Except for VCB, many banks lost, such as Vietinbank (CTG), Military Bank (MBB), Techcombank (TCB), Sacombank (STB), Eximbank (EIB) and Tiên Phong Bank (TPB), which restrained the growth of the banking sector at just 0.4 per cent, according to data tracked by vietstock.vn.

According to technical analysis of Viet Dragon Securities JSC, the market continued its uptrend, but a strong dispute still took place and created a Star candle. Supply continuously exerted pressure during the session and caused the market to retreat at times, but in general, this pressure was still not enough to cause a big drop for the market, thanks to the cash flow still trying to support it.

“With this signal, it is likely that the market will gradually step into the resistance zone of 1,200-1,220 points in the near future, which is expected to cause great supply pressure on the market. Therefore, investors can expect the market's ability to expand the uptrend, but the situation may face many difficulties due to being close to the resistance zone,” said Phương Nguyễn, market analyst at Viet Dragon Securities Co.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index decreased for the first time since July 12. The northern market’s index edged down 0.3 per cent to end at 236.2 per cent.

Liquidity also declined steeply here, with nearly 76 million shares worth VNĐ1.3 trillion being traded, down more than 30 per cent in both volume and value compared to Tuesday’s levels. — VNS